Catherine Hardy

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has a mountain to climb.

Fresh from signing a written agreement with Russia on a new a gas pipeline, Greece’s Prime Minister now has to broker deal to break his country’s debt deadlock ahead of an emergency eurozone summit on Monday – billed as the most important meeting in the currency’s 19-year history.

Reports suggest Tsipras may speak to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker by telephone. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is on record as saying a deal must be agreed to allow decisive action to be taken at Monday’s summit.

Greece and Russia have agreed to extend the planned Turkish Stream gas pipeline to Europe: through Greek territory. Athens says funding will come from Russia’s state development bank.

The European Central Bank has extended emergency funding to Greece’s banks.